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A new bill has been introduced in Tucumán, Argentina, to ban any kind of online gambling or sports betting province-wide. Alfredo Toscano, second vice president of the Tucumán Legislature, said that it is essential to take action to safeguard public health and deal with the increasing digitalization of gambling.
The proposal would prohibit online gambling, including mobile applications and other online platforms, from being run or advertised. According to Toscano, the physical constraints of traditional casinos once made it difficult for many people to have access to them, which is no longer the case in the digital world.
“The healthiest thing is to go back to having gambling behind a door. What we had before with the casino which had a physical limitation and required people to travel to play. That was a limitation that prevented many people from accessing it,” Toscano said.
Toscano Argues Prohibition Could Reduce Gambling-Related Harm
This bill is timely, as online gambling has become a major force in the gambling industry due to the ubiquity of smartphone use and the ability to access online gambling platforms from anywhere. Although regulated operators have put in place measures for responsible gambling and player protection, illegal ones pose a problem as they are not part of the formal regulation system.
Instead, Toscano’s idea is to ban online gambling altogether in Tucumán. It would also bar adverts from being placed in related media and on social networks apart from on the platforms themselves.
“The easiest thing is to prohibit it. Problem gambling is present throughout society. This is advancing and putting young people especially at risk. With online casinos available on a cellphone, this problem can affect every family, which turns it into a real pandemic”, Toscano stated.
Within the proposed scheme, the platforms authorized would be required to stop operations in Tucumán within 90 days. During the transition period, operators would not be able to take any new registrations or deposits, and would need to return existing player balances.
Jonathan Gómez highlights personal impact of gambling
Problems with gambling are also gaining increasing visibility in society, as is evident in the debate in Tucumán. Recently, former Racing and Rosario Central player Jonathan Gómez shared his personal journey with online gambling and sports betting in public.
A complaint that Gómez had filed alleging extortion in relation to a debt owed for an illegal gambling site was rejected. The former football player shared emotional and financial repercussions in his personal and professional life related to the effects of gambling.
“It distracts you not only from your work but also from your daily life, it changes your mood, it changes your personality. I lost everything. Today, I lost everything. I am going through a process with my family, which is almost destroyed. I have a process where I don’t know if I will be able to play football again, which is what I love most, and I don’t know whether people will trust me again in the future”, Gómez said.
He also slammed the prosecutor’s handling of his case when the investigation was dropped because “there were no serious elements to continue the investigation.” Gómez stated that he never got a call from the prosecutor throughout the case, and asked why his allegations were not given proper consideration.
The proposed ban is part of a larger debate in Argentina about how the government should react to the growing trend of online gambling. If the measure is approved, Tucumán would shift from regulating internet gambling to an outright ban, with accessibility and public-health issues dominating the parliamentary debate.
Source: SBC Noticias
